THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 91 



(d) Adult female, apparently fully matured. Golden Ridge, 

 Kalgoorlie, 19th March, 1899. Forehead and crown sooty-black, 

 each feather so faintly bordered with brown that the appearance 

 is uniform sooty-black ; cheeks and lores sooty-black ; throat 

 cream, flushed with flesh colour; nape, back, and rump sooty; 

 upper tail coverts a deeper soot colour ; two centre tail feathers 

 dense black ; flanks deep brown ; primaries sooty-black, edged 

 with a lighter sliade ; wing coverts similar to interscapulum ; 

 under wing light to dark slate. 



Phase 3. — Male. Stawell, Victoria, 23rd June, 1899. While 

 one of the two central tail feathers is dense black, the other 

 forms a strong contrast in being brown, while both are distinctly 

 barred. The head of this specimen is brown, with "scales" 

 upon it. This skin has been mounted, and is in the possession 

 of Mr. A. Coles, taxidermist, Elizabeth-street, Melbourne. 



AN OOLOGISTS' REUNION. 

 At the invitation of Mr. Dudley Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., about 25 

 gentlemen, nearly all interested in oology and members of the 

 Field Naturalists' Club, assembled at the Victoria Coffee Palace, 

 Collins-street, Melbourne, on Friday-evening, ist September, 1899. 

 The dining-table was adorned with some of the host's rarer birds' 

 eggs and skins, togetlier with floral decorations of pink and white 

 epacris, wattle, &c. 



After dinner Mr. F. R. Godfrey, who acted as chairman, in a 

 short speech referred to Mr. Le Souef's work among birds, and 

 mentioned that he had now over 500 species of Australian birds' 

 eggs in his collection. He gave a short resume of recent oological 

 and ornithological work in Australia, concluding with a personal 

 reminiscence of an interview with that greatest of all Australian 

 ornithologists, John Gould, before his (the chairman's) departure 

 from England for Australia in 1846. Mr. A. J. Campbell gave a 

 few notes about his work on " The Nests and Eggs of Australian 

 Birds," now in an English publisher's hands, and reminded his 

 friends that, owing to the extent of the MSS., and the consequent 

 great expense of type-setting and illustrating, the receipt of further 

 subscription forms was necessary before the actual work of publi- 

 cation could be commenced. Mr. D. Le Souef briefly thanked 

 those who had assembled, and hoped that in the future similar 

 gatherings would take place. 



Several valuable ornithological works were displayed for inspec- 

 tion by the visitors, after wliicli Mr. Le Souef entertained his 

 guests with a series of lantern-slides depicting some of the rarer 

 nests of Australian birds and a series of views descriptive of the 

 country in the neighbourhood of Roeburn, Western Australia. 

 The evening passed all too quickly, and at its close general ex- 

 pressions of delight were made as the guests departed to catch 

 the late trams or trains. 



